COMPETITION OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK-HOLES AND GALACTIC SPHEROIDS IN THEDESTRUCTION OF GLOBULAR-CLUSTERS

The globular clusters that we observe in galaxies may be only a fracti on of the initial population. Among the evolutionary influences on the population is the destruction of globular clusters by tidal forces as the cluster moves through the field of influence of a disk, a bulge, and/or a putative nuclear component (black hole). We have conducted a series of N-body simulations of globular clusters on bound and margina lly bound orbits through potentials that include black hole and sphero idal components. The degree of concentration of the spheroidal compone nt can have a considerable impact on the extent to which a globular cl uster is disrupted. If half the mass of a 10(10) M(.) spheorid is conc entrated within 800 pc, then only black holes with masses greater than 10(9) M(.) can have a significant tidal influence over that already e xerted by the bulge. However, if the matter in the spheroidal componen t is not so strongly concentrated toward the center of the galaxy, a m ore modest central black hole (down to 10(8) M(.)) could have a domina nt influence on the globular cluster distribution, particularly if man y of the clusters were initially on highly radial orbits. Our simulati ons show that the stars that are stripped from a globular cluster foll ow orbits with roughly the same eccentricity as the initial cluster or bit, spreading out along the orbit like a ''string of pearls.'' Since only clusters on close to radial orbits will suffer substantial disrup tion, the population of stripped stars will be on orbits of high eccen tricity.